Pros:
The new finals system provides a scheduled opportunity for students to review their course materials. Students will be able to go over and process things they might not have gotten the first time, bolstering their learning experience. This can also lead students to practice helpful reviewing strategies that will help them in their daily school life. Students have even created study groups, fostering more bonds and strengthening the learning between them.
Structure is also important to a students life. Every trimester, students will know just what to expect, when to expect it, and what’s going to be on the final. This helps students worry less, along with the allotted time for test taking being longer. It went from 50 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes, so students have more time to focus and complete their work.
The first time doing anything is bound to be hard and stressful. However, as students get more used to having finals, they will come to expect and deal with it. Many high school students will have to deal with finals in college, so thie experience can adequately prepare them. City High also has many resources students can use if they need help such as the NESTT or students’ guidance counselors.
This summative assessment can even give teachers a chance to reflect. The scores on the finals can be used to check how well students are grasping the material. As such, teachers can use the tests to adjust accordingly.
Cons:
While this system is designed to help students feel less stressed, it may be doing the opposite. 87.5% of students who took a survey about their feelings about finals reported that they felt more stressed due to it. While this system is designed to help students feel less stressed, it may be doing the opposite. Another weight has been thrown on students lives as they try to balance classes with their free time and extracurriculars. The fear of failure and impending stress leaves students mentally and emotionally exhausted.
Students may even become more physically exhausted, as well. As students try to cram before the exam, they may fall victim to irregular sleep patterns. Late-night study sessions can impact their physical health by depleting their energy and compromosing their well-being. Less sleep effects your test taking abilities as well, impairing your ability to pay attention.
It also comes to a matter of preference. 85.1% of students who took the same survey showed that they preferred the old way of doing things. Humans are creatures of habit, so it’s no surprise that this change comes unwelcome to students.
Final exams are a common source of academic stress, and with constant stress before an exam, students are more likely to fail. Constant worry makes it difficult to concentrate and answer questions correctly. After the exam, these feelings of worry can turn into self-doubt and may impede the overall academic performance of a student.
